Dateline” 21 October 2013

The carvings on the tombs at Bukit Brown are commonly drawn from the 4 Chinese classics. Brownie Yik Han spotted one particular carving on an altar table which intrigued him.

The Tableau of Virtues (photo Ang Yik Han)

His observations  of the characters depicted in the tableau taken from the Romance of Three Kingdoms and what they represent:

Instead of the usual set of suspects this tableau has a rather unique combination of figures which I have yet to come across in other tombs.

The one in the middle seems to be Zhuge Liang from his garb and feather fan. On the right is almost certainly Shun and the white elephant which helped him till his fields. And I guess the one on the left of  Zhuge Liang is Liu Bei as he looks rather regal. Now, each of these characters exemplify a certain virtue: Zhuge Liang – loyalty (忠), Liu Bei – benevolence (仁),Shun – filial piety (孝), so there we have part of the traditional set of virtues 忠孝仁义, the last being righteousness which is as close to the meaning in chinese as we can get in a word.

If the martial figure to the right of Zhuge Liang represents 义, the question is who can this be as it certainly is not Guan Yu, the usual poster boy for that virtue. Of course, this interpretation assumes the two figures at the extreme left are calefaire.

Editors note: If you would like to weigh in on the mysterious characters which have not been clearly  identified, please add your comments on this post.

Your can read more about other tomb carvings by Yik Han on The Wayang in the Tombs , Romance of the Three Kingdoms,  

The Four Professions, 

The Four Loves, 

The Four Appointments, 

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